No one had expected that the Lord of Cinder, the one the Dragon Clan and Beastmen had placed such high hopes in, would fall beneath Maliketh's blade just as he crushed the Draconic Tree Sentinel with invincible might.
For thousands of years, Maliketh had been regarded by the Ancient Dragons as a great enemy, for no reason other than his power, a power that inspired both reverence and fear.
Thousands of years ago, he had personally slain the Empyrean who wielded Destined Death, and before him, the Ancient Dragons could barely withstand his blade.
Thousands of years later, a King who had risen from nothing had likewise died by his hand.
By all rights, the death of a King should have caused a great uproar. Yet aside from the Ancient Dragon's grief-stricken roar, not a single sound could be heard across the battlefield.
From the Draconic Tree Sentinel being sent flying to Maliketh suddenly appearing and cutting off Nolan's head, everything had happened so quickly that most of the Beastmen and Flying Dragons had no time to react.
As for the Golden Faction's troops, they did not understand why Maliketh had appeared here at all, much less why he would lower himself to ambush a young man.
They had been sealed away in this city for far too long, as though completely cut off from the world. Everything outside had become unfamiliar to them.
They did not even know of such a major event as a young man from the Lands Between killing the strongest Demigod and becoming the strongest lord.
But Maliketh was just as stunned as they were. At that moment, he stood frozen in a daze, without the slightest joy or excitement of having slain his target.
The reason was simple. The assassination had been far too easy, so easy it was impossible to believe.
In Maliketh's expectations, although he was capable of killing Nolan Bethel, it should not have been this simple.
It was not that the assassination should have failed, but when that target was ambushed, he should at least have reacted in some way.
Yet reality had gone completely beyond Maliketh's expectations.
Nolan had simply stood there quietly, motionless, without the slightest movement. Even his eyes had not flickered.
This made Maliketh begin to doubt whether he had truly completed the hunt.
Like Blaidd, Maliketh was an Empyrean's Shadow-bound Beast, but compared with Blaidd, he looked far more beastlike.
At that moment, he resembled a bloodthirsty wolf, crouched low to the ground, his body leaning slightly forward as a chilling aura radiated from him.
His long white hair drifted gently in the breeze, as if revealing the restlessness and unease within him.
He wore black armor edged with gold, and in his right hand, he gripped a dark-red Claymore planted into the ground.
The instant he appeared, Maliketh had gone straight into his second phase. Clearly, he had never intended to hold back.
Every movement he made was filled with killing intent. From the very start, he had struck with the resolve to kill Nolan.
"Strange..."
Maliketh stared at the head rolling across the ground, his brow slightly furrowed and his eyes narrowed, as if trying to see through it.
Just now, while Nolan was still alive, he had clearly sensed a faint trace of death within him.
Although that aura had been extremely weak, it had undeniably existed.
But the moment Nolan died before his eyes, that sense of "death" abruptly vanished.
"Could it be that his death cannot be sealed? Or is this kind of 'death' different from Destined Death in some special way?"
Maliketh fell silent, and with him, so did everyone around him.
Nolan and Sethlin watched the eerie silence from atop the tower. Sethlin pointed below with a face full of shock and shouted,
"Big Brother, Maliketh really knocked your head off!"
"It wasn't my head that got knocked off. It was my clone's." Nolan reached out and pressed a hand on Sethlin's head.
A perfectly ordinary clone had drawn Maliketh out. It was an absolute bargain.
That was why Nolan had not let Asimi save anyone. If he had used Asimi in place of the clone, it would have been her head flying off.
Nolan was not so extravagant that he would use a top-tier Demigod-level summoned beast as bait.
Nolan slung Sethlinsax over his shoulder.
"Come on. Let's let that guy find out what it feels like to have his head knocked off."
Hearing this, Sethlin immediately panicked. She hurriedly waved her hands and said, "I don't need to go, do I...?"
Nolan did not listen to her at all. With her over his shoulder, he jumped straight out the window.
Maliketh's gaze remained fixed on that head.
In an instant, the head broke apart like a pile of sand scattered by a gale, disintegrating into countless blue particles that drifted into the distance like dust.
"I'm the prey?"
The thought flashed through Maliketh's mind, and disbelief surged within him.
That King had been far too weak, not even as strong as Radahn. Yet Radahn had been killed by Nolan.
Maliketh immediately lowered his body, pressing both feet and one hand firmly against the ground while raising the dark-red Claymore.
His movements were swift and powerful, like a beast ready to spring.
The next moment, he spun sharply and swung with all his strength.
Seeing this, the half-dragon Florissax quickly spread her wings and shot backward with lightning speed.
She gripped the Flowerstone Gavel tightly in both hands and gathered a dazzling bolt of raging lightning with all her strength, preparing to meet Maliketh's attack.
But Maliketh's strike did not fall on her. Or rather, that dark-red Claymore had never been aimed at her in the first place.
Just as Florissax stared in shock, Nolan appeared in front of her once again.
Holding the Promised Claymore, he easily blocked Maliketh's Black Blade, and the fire of life completely scattered the pressure of Destined Death.
Maliketh was forced back by the tremendous force from the Claymore. His claws carved five long marks into the ground, and his body slid back more than ten meters before stopping.
Now that Nolan had successfully found Maliketh, the rest was simple.
In the deathly silence, Maliketh and Nolan stared at each other, and the pressure on the former was immense.
This clash between them would not end until one of them left his life behind.
"Aren't you worried that I might be a clone too?" Maliketh asked.
"Use a clone against me? Would you dare?" Nolan sneered.
A clone was inevitably weaker than the main body. At best, having fifty or sixty percent of the original's strength was already good.
If Maliketh used a clone to kill Nolan, he would not only be looking down on Nolan, but on Radahn as well.
And using a clone was risky to begin with. A clone's power was split off from the main body.
If most of the original's power was given to the clone, then if the clone died, most of that power would be temporarily lost as well.
Of course, that power could recover, but it would take time.
Depending on the person's constitution, the time needed to recover that power varied.
For someone like Nolan, whose control over souls was extremely high, the power lost from the death of such a weak clone would take less than a day to recover.
For others, recovery could take several days, or even dozens.
But sometimes, a battle could end in mere minutes.
If a clone carrying most of one's power died, the main body, whose strength had not yet recovered during that period, would only be in even greater danger.
Maliketh would not be stupid enough to weaken himself at such a critical moment. If anything unexpected happened, the consequences would be more than he could bear.
Maliketh narrowed his eyes. He was indeed here in his true body.
Nolan's performance had proven that his choice was correct. Using a clone to kill Nolan would have been digging his own grave.
Under that crushing pressure, Maliketh finally could not hold back any longer.